Ershad announces 58-party alliance

With a plan to join the next parliamentary election and form a government together, Jatiya Party (JP), headed by former president H M Ershad, yesterday formed a new political alliance styled United National Alliance (UNA), with 57 parties.Ershad has been named UNA chairman.Of the 58 parties, only Jatiya Party and Bangladesh Islamic Front have registration with the election commission.The 56 other parties belong to two other platforms – the 34-party National Islamic Grand Alliance and 22-party Bangladesh National Alliance.In terms of number of parties, UNA is the country’s biggest ever political alliance. The ruling Awami League-led grand alliance consists of 14 parties while BNP-lead alliance has 20 parties.“We believe in the spirit of our liberation and the Islamic values with equal respect for other religions. We also uphold Bangladeshi nationalism,” Ershad said.He assured that no anti-liberation force will be allowed to join the alliance.“Our main goal is to form a government and participate in the national and all other elections under the banner of the alliance,” the former military dictator said.The Jatiya Party chief said Islamic values with equal respect for all religions, the Liberation War spirit and Bangladeshi nationalism are the basic principles of the UNA.He said their alliance wants to build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh by initiating a new phase of development and restoring good governance, peace, discipline and justice.“The main aim of the alliance is to build a modern Bangladesh by ensuring the rule of law and people’s basic rights,” Ershad added.He claimed that two more parties having registration with the election commission have also decided to join the UNA.